SNAP from Friday

Here we go…–Keynote – Lisa LeonardThere were 3 keynote speakers during SNAP – Lisa Leonard was by far my favorite – she did an amazing job. She just gave off such great vibes and has an amazing overall power for life. Thoughts that stood out to me:

-Keys to Success are: being willing to change, work with bloggers, and be unique.-We can’t do it all – we’re imperfect. Prioritize your core and have structure built into your day. Structure ideas: breakfast, school drop-off, chunks of your day, feed the soul – lunch with a friend, evening downtime.-Blogging is strategic and structured and can also be personal.-If you don’t feel good about a project, don’t introduce it.-Managing work/life balance – very challenging. Be a good parent – to do that, you need to have enough energy for their lives!-We’re imperfect – own it. Imperfection helps us connect with others – include the conflict components in your storytelling because people connect with the hard stuff.**JOY is there to be found** – create joy for others, in our families, and in our own lives.Joy shares the difficulties as much as sharing the creative moments.-If someone else can do it, delegate. Also, go 80%, then stop. The last 20% isn’t worth it.-Fill yourself up: disconnect, turn off your phone. Spend time with friends. Spend time alone.**It’s a risk to move forward, but it’s a bigger risk to stay still**

–Advanced Monetization – Beckie Farrant (Infarrantly Creative)This class lived up to my high expectations – Beckie is amazing and confident in her knowledge of blog monetization (that’s making money with your blog). She gave a super strong presentation and it was one of the best at the conference – she’s a rockstar.

I had already hired Beckie as a consultant to set up my DFP (it’s a way to stack ads to maximize them – and I’d highly recommend Beckie to set it up for you) so most the info wasn’t new to me, but I want to pass along some tips for you. Obviously there was tons more to learn in her presentation.-Put together a money marketing strategy for you – write it down!-Sidebars are premium space – use them to either make you money or keep people on your site – take down anything that’s not doing either of those things.-Header – put great categories at the top and integrate your logo.-If you ever want to make money with your blog, then put ads on NOW – that way they’ve always been there and readers aren’t thrown off.-Blogging will probably cost money the first 2 years, but after that it will turn into an income.-Set up DFP when you’ve hit 50,000 page views a month.-Recommended: 6 ads (top, bottom, 2 rectangle, 2 skyscrapper)-Control your backfill!-Increase your revenue with Ad Networks: backfill, set a floor CPM, Daisy Chain or DFP, work with numerous ad networks, negotiate. -Be sure you don’t have Google Analytics installed twice.

–Brown Bag lunch with MinwaxI didn’t take any notes, but this was a great presentation and the thing that I learned is that you’re supposed to condition your wood before staining it – it’s kind of like a primer. They stained a piece of wood that had the primer on half of it and that half looked much better – who knew!

–Collaborating With BrandsThis class was just okay for me. It was more of a general overview instead of specific details, but I’m sure specifics are hard to give since every situation is different when working with brands.

A few tips that stood out to me:-you want brands that are a good fit for you – – if not, you’re giving the message that you’re for sale– find contacts via social media, ex: twitter– know your worth-respond promptly and professionally**if you took the sponsor out of the sponsored post, does it still have value?**-bring your best work, allow plenty of time, keep communications open, follow all contract terms and social media requirements.-start with a story, weave the product in

–Branding for BloggersI almost didn’t go to this class because I didn’t think I needed to learn about branding – but it was really great and full of info and energy. It makes me want to tweak my logo.

**Branding is the world’s perception of Who You Are**-you need great pictures – they represent you-be consistent in color and photo styling – makes you easy to recognize-don’t be afraid to re-brand, but carryover some elements-be relateable – YOU are part of your brand – build a relationship with your audience-connect emotionally and you will attract people like you-forget the trends – design for your base-use 2 fonts (if the font is in Word, don’t use it)-a logo and a blog header are not the same thing

–Queen Bee MarketThat evening was the Queen Bee Market – – fun to shop! And one my roomies won the Instagram challenge that night, so double bonus!

I bought a summer cardigan, a mint wrap thing, and some wooden pennant that I have a project in mind for – – it was so fun to check out all the great things! I even got to design some chapstick labels, so that was pretty cool.

Thanks for checking out this post from www.SugarBeeCrafts.com – – click on over to read it in its entirety – you’ll love it!

About Mandy Beyeler

Mandy is a craft blogger who loves to blog and enjoys all things crafty, sewing, and DIY - she feels that if she can do something, you can too, and provides tutorials to help you along the way. She loves being a mom to 4 awesome kiddos and blogs from the Kansas City Area.

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